That Evening In Rivendell
by Elelome
Summary: A lover's reunion and a few memories. Arwen's POV.


Title: That Evening In Rivendell   
Author: Elelome (elelome@yahoo.com)   
Website: http://www.geocities.com/elelome   
Series: None.   
Archive: Yes.   
Rating: PG-13   
Feedback: Oh yes. CC, praise, flames, I don't care.:-)   
Summary: A lovers' reunion and a few memories. Arwen's POV.   
Notes: I wrote this years ago, probably when I was   
sixteen or so. Just found it again, and figured why   
not post it? :-) 

**** 

I turned at the sound of slow, yet eager, footsteps.   
I quickly guessed who it might be-my beloved, of   
course- and stood up swiftly. 

"Arwen, my dearest!" he exclaimed. 

"I waited long for your coming, beloved," I said   
quietly, putting out my hands to him. He took them   
with fervent possession. 

"I came with the one who bears the Ring, Frodo the   
Halfling. He is there, with Bilbo, who is his uncle,   
by the door." 

I smiled at the halflings as they passed out the door.   
Aragorn gazed at me, his heart in his eyes. 

"Come, heart's beloved," he said. "We have much to   
speak of and to do. Our hope rests with that one,   
little though he is." 

Quietly we slipped out to the moonlit terrace. Then   
Aragorn turned and drew me to him. I looked into his   
face for a long while, or so it seemed; then he bent   
and kissed me softly. 

"Am I now welcomed, dear lady?" he asked. 

"Beloved, you are always welcome, whether you succeed   
or fail, for my heart is yours!" I whispered. 

"What if I should fail?" he said tensely. 

"Then I will follow thou my lord throughout the   
world. But you will not fail! Come, see what I have   
made for thee." 

It was a banner of dark silk. On it were laid the   
Seven Stars of Gondor and the White Tree of   
Numenor-but not yet was it finished. 

"In hope I am making this for thee, Dunadan. When it   
is finished I will send it to thee-I know not when or   
how," I said quietly, in the shadows of my room. 

"This then, Evenstar, thou hast made for me! With love   
thou hast long labored and"-he took my hand and held   
it up, "thy hands grow fairer because of it." 

He took me in his arms and kissed me again. I looked   
into his face and noticed the lines care had put   
there. 

"Oh, beloved," I said. "Thou hast had many cares.   
Here, I beg you, forget them a while. Thou art weary.   
Here rest, Estel." 

I laid my hand on his brow, my heart thrilling to his   
nearness and his touch. 

After a while we wandered slowly out into the garden.   
We walked to the place we had always gone to-across   
the porch, up the steps to the stone bench that   
overlooked the waterfall. Aragorn took my hand. 

"The Evening Star is bright this night," he said. "And   
so is our hope. What will tomorrow bring? That is both   
fear and joy." 

"Nay, lord, not to me," I said, raising our clasped   
hands to the sky. "Those stars will shine, for it   
matters not who triumphs. Good still reigns." 

"Yes, lady, you are right, for it is beyond those   
stars that we are bound and there is no sorrow or   
weariness there!" he exclaimed. 

"Beyond the stars?" I asked wonderingly. "I do not   
know of what you speak." 

"It is placed in the spirit of man to yearn ever for   
something higher than the ever-changing earth. More   
awaits us than the soil of Arda. Lady, thou art one of   
the Eldar and I know thou canst not see, not yet, at   
least. One day, if our hope is accomplished, thou too   
will ascend beyond the stars." 

I still did not understand. 

"Yes, beloved," I said. "Then I will see! Yet, is it   
not sorrowful, even to despair, to part from those   
thou lovest, who go you know not whither?" 

"Dearest beloved," he said, holding me close, "Speak   
not of despair! Sorrow, yes, but I will not die in   
despair. And thou wilt not despair, even should I   
die!" 

"But I foresee," he added, with a slow smile, like the   
day's dawning, "That event is dim and far in the   
future. Fear not for me, Evenstar. Our hope will be   
attained, although the paths are dim." 

"You are my hope, dearest, as your name signifies.   
You have been Estel, you are Aragorn Dunadan, and you   
will be the king Elessar, the healing hand that wields   
the sword!" 

"And thou, thou art the fairest star the earth has   
seen," he said, bending his head to look in my eyes. I   
laid my head against his shoulder and heard the swift   
beating of his heart. He kissed me again, his mouth   
passionately pressed to mine. 

"My love," I whispered softly. "What gives you hope   
when all is dark about you and what gives you joy when   
all is sadness?" 

"Many times I have protected, how I do not know,"   
Aragorn said. "I am encradled, loved, held as a father   
would hold. I cannot explain it, although such joy   
cannot be equaled." 

"I know what you speak of, beloved," I quickly   
replied, "though I have never spoken of that joy to   
any. It was like lightning flashing through me, the   
feeling that I was not fashioned in vain, that the one   
who made me did not abandon me but cares! Even the   
memory brings back some of the joy." 

As I spoke, the years slipped away and I remembered   
the saddest day of my life. 

I stood silent on the quay. The last kisses and   
mingled tears were over and she was gone. A little   
apart my father stood and the thought in his mind   
chimed with my own-she is gone! 

Mother, Celebrian, beautiful daughter of Galadriel,   
fair wife of my father, noble mistress of Imladris-she   
had departed in grievous pain to be healed in Valinor   
and never to return. My grief was too great to be   
expressed in word or gesture or tear. I silently   
turned and walked down to the seashore, wandering on   
the sand for a long time. As I did, night swept over   
the water, but the clouds covered the stars and all   
was black. 

"This, then, is the night no stars will shine in, " I   
thought, sorrow washing over me like the waves I   
walked beside. "Will the stars ever shine again?" 

Loking toward Valinor, whither the ship was bound,   
grief and anger filled my heart and ill-considered   
thoughts my mind. 

"Oh, how could you take my mother, my mother-the one I   
share my dreams and hopes with-the one I laugh   
with-the one I follow and hope to become like? Have   
you abandoned my life? Can you not care? do you not   
feel any pain or joy, sorrow or loss? Is there no Hope   
then? Does darkness indeed rule the world?" 

At that thought I cried, "No it is wrong to even think   
thus. I cannot. 'Arda was made by loving hands for the   
dwelling of the Eruhin-Children of God,' I quoted out   
of old books of ancient Elvish lore. 

"Yet it is not just that my mother, who is like to the   
Valar in beauty, so saith my father, to leave me and   
go whither I cannot come! Eru, if you truly care,   
rescue me!" I said as I fell back lightly against the   
warm dark sand. 

At that moment, I felt a quiet voice through the core   
of all that was myself, Arwen Undomiel. It stilled my   
racing heart as a peace spread through me, of source   
unknown, yet it felt as though light flowed through my   
veins. 

Just then, the clouds broke and revealed a moonless   
night. The stars hung faint in the distance, but I   
took courage. 

"My hope shall indeed come," I whispered," though far   
away it may seem and long still is my waiting, he   
shall come." 

I rose to my feet and walked back to the quay. Far off   
in the black night I saw a faint light, like a star   
shone in the water. 

And now here in Aragorn's arms, I knew that my dream   
had been fulfilled and that Hope indeed was standing   
beside me, his hand clasped in mine. 

I was content. 

~end~ 


End file.
